My Thoughts on SSDs

[raymac46]

A brief Q&A. Your mileage may vary.

 

How many SSDs are you currently using? 3X120, 1X240 (NVME), 2X480. I also put a 480 in my son-in-law's laptop.

Do you have an SSD in every machine? No. I have a very old desktop with SATA2 capability. It just doesn't seem worth it considering how I use it.

Does brand matter to you? I have used Samsung, Toshiba, Sandisk, Kingston, Western Digital, ADATA. They all worked OK for me.

How do you choose? Right now I would not buy anything less than 480 GB if you are using SATA3. I get whatever is on sale. The lesser capacities either are quite old or came with the machine.

Have you seen differences in performance? NVME is blazingly fast. The worst SATA drive is still 3-4 X as fast as an HDD in boot time and launch time. They all make a huge difference.

How about longevity? My oldest SSDs are now about 7 years old and nothing has failed yet.

Is it a difficult upgrade? No harder than changing any part. On a desktop it's a no-brainer (although you might need a bracket to fit in a 3.5 inch drive caddy.) Some pro grade laptops are very easy. Others you have to take apart totally.

What's the bottom line? Best upgrade you can ever make on an old system. If building or buying new, make sure you can install an NVME drive if at all possible. Many new slim laptops already come that way.

 

[abarbarian]

30 minutes ago, raymac46 said:

Have you seen differences in performance? NVME is blazingly fast.

 

Yup I have one of these running from an add on card in a PCI-E slot and it is slicker than a ...........................

 

31 minutes ago, raymac46 said:

Do you have an SSD in every machine? No

 

I don't have a ssd in a 32 bit Dell. I do have a 60 GB cheapo in a 15 year old CF-19 ToughBook and it transformed the thing. Have a cheapo 120 GB in a CF-52 old Tough Book runs sweet. A cheapo 60 GB in a Athlon 3400+ which once again runs very well. My main rig has 500 GB 860, 240GB Chronos and a 250 GB Crucial.

 

40 minutes ago, raymac46 said:

Does brand matter to you?

 

Nope mid price range are all pretty much the same as are the top end ones. Even bargin bucket first generation ssd's are worth while for a cheap upgrade.

 

42 minutes ago, raymac46 said:

How about longevity?

 

I would think that apart form accidental damage a ssd would outlive its owner.

 

43 minutes ago, raymac46 said:

Is it a difficult upgrade? 

 

Not in the slightest. I have mine dangling by the power cable tied with a bit of string to the side of my case. You can stick them to surfaces with velcro. There are no moving parts so they do not vibrate and it does not matter what orientation you mount them in.

 

47 minutes ago, raymac46 said:

What's the bottom line? Best upgrade you can ever make on an old system. If building or buying new, make sure you can install an NVME drive if at all possible. Many new slim laptops already come that way.

 

 

Yup what raymac46 said is right on the nail.

 

[Bookmem]

I download the gparted iso but noticed that a review stated that it was based on an old version of Linux that didn't support some modern hardware.  Since gparted is typically part of most Live CDs, I was wondering what would be a good choice for one that is light weight, fast booting and has good hardware support, to use instead.

[raymac46]

Personally I'd use MX-Linux as an emergency ISO. Pretty lightweight, based on Debian stable. Should work, has lots of tools besides Gparted.

[raymac46]

Most of the SSDs I have used up till now had TLC (Tri Level Cell) technology and could store 3 bits per memory cell. The newest one I put in my SIL's old laptop is a QLC (Quad Level Cell) drive and stores 4 bits per cell. These are a bit cheaper but in theory slower and not as durable.

In practice, I didn't see a big difference and since it's going into an older machine it should be OK. There is a three year warranty.

If this sort of stuff bothers you, the TLC drives should still be around for some time. Samsung 860 EVO, WD Blue and Crucial MX500 are all TLC.